When the early followers of Jesus heard or read of “the good news of the kingdom of God,” their context would have provided an immediate contrast: the Roman empire. Every day of their lives was dominated by it; there was no getting away. They also were learning the practices, ethics, and priorities of the two kingdoms were in ongoing conflict. They lived in both because of physical proximity, not aligned goals. The kingdom of God revealed the moral and spiritual void of Rome, and, as a stand-in, all other earthly kingdoms.
Satan’s wilderness temptation to Christ—that all the kingdoms of the world could be his—was not about real estate as if Jesus would embark on a world tour meeting subjects and appreciating architecture. It was an invitation to join the god of this world, to trade the eternal, invisible kingdom of God with its Sermon on the Mount ethics, its fruit of the Spirit living, its love God and neighbor, for wood, hay, stubble, pride, lust, greed, power-mongering, fear, oppression, and idolatry.
It was Jesus’ opportunity to trade his birthright for a bowl of soup.
The kingdoms of this world—all of them—are ever in conflict with the kingdom of God. Jesus could not have been more plain: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Attempting a kingdom merger will always end with a diminished kingdom of God and an elevated god of this world.
fides quaerens intellectum
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